


Spider-Man: The Musical

by crazy_purple



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Apple-Slicer 3000, Clint Barton is a child, Crack, Dramatic Ned, Dramatic Peter, Fluff, Fluff and Crack, Gen, IronDad and SpiderSon, MJ is a straight up queen and I love her, Ned Leeds is a Good Bro, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker has exactly one brain cell, Peter Parker is a Mess, Poor Peter, Protective Avengers, Protective Bucky Barnes, Protective Natasha Romanov, Protective Steve Rogers, Protective Tony Stark, Spooder-man, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, god help us all
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-05
Updated: 2020-01-28
Packaged: 2021-01-23 21:34:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21327028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crazy_purple/pseuds/crazy_purple
Summary: Peter began his walk to his locker so he can meet with Ned to go to the cafeteria. What caught his eye, however, was a brightly coloured poster that made him stop and turn to inspect it with wide eyes. The sound of his books hitting the floor echo in the school hallways as the boy reaches out, his fingers trembling as it touches the piece of paper that now serves as his death note. He reads the words over and over again, not believing his eyes. Posted on the wall in front of him, the message reads:Spider-man: The Musical!Casting now!Written by: Michelle JonesSomewhere in the Himalayas, around 7000 miles away, a man flinches at the sound of a scream while hiking up a mountain and pauses to give a moment of silence for the poor lad who's met his demise.____________AkaPeter finally meets his arch-nemesis.Midtown hosts auditions for a Spider-Man musical which throws Peter in a stress loop of making sure his identity is still safe.Also includes: A Villian (mwa ha ha), Overwhelmed Peter, Parker Luck™, Protective Avengers, and a bucket load of Irondad.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Peter Parker, May Parker (Spider-Man) & Peter Parker, Michelle Jones & Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Michelle Jones/Peter Parker, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Natasha Romanov, Peter Parker & Sam Wilson, Peter Parker & Steve Rogers, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 14
Kudos: 135





	1. It's An Extra-Credit Thing.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm kinda excited for this fic, not gonna lie. This is inspired by the animated series of Ultimate Spider-man, which is actually a good show despite what everyone says. And I hope you like it as well!

“Spider-man is a menace, he obviously doesn’t know what he’s doing. Instead, he just continues to cause more and more trouble for us. Now tell me, New York, is this what you want?”

Peter groaned. What a great way to start the morning. Why the people of New York wanted the obnoxious voice of J. Jonah _ Lameson _ broadcasted across the city, he didn’t know. He continued to glare at the offending man, yelling like the animal he was, projected on the large screen attached to the building in front of him. 

“The damage he leaves for us to clean up, don’t we deserve any better?”

Peter sighed. Jameson had a point. He looked down at the mess created from the battle between him and the Trapster from where he was perched above. It wasn’t much to be fair, two cars were completely totalled and covered with the glue-like paste, although no one was hurt. Trapster himself was webbed on the wall of the building opposite to him, looking pretty pissed. 

A small ‘ding’ interrupted Peter’s thoughts. He looked around for the source only to realize that it was only Karen alerting him that he was going to be late for school.

He muttered an “oh crap” and swung to the alleyway that hid his backpack. He quickly put on his clothes over the suit and took off his mask. Shouldering on his backpack he casually walked out of the alleyway, hoping to not cause any suspicions, and then made a run for it to school. Fortunately, the incident with Trapster occurred a few blocks away from Midtown, so he didn’t have to worry about catching a bus or anything. 

He finally reached the front doors of the school and gave it a pull only to find it locked. He huffed in frustration. _ Great. Stupid glue stick, making him late for school and now Mr. Stark’s going to cut his patrol time short after giving him an earful and tell on him to May and- oh god he didn’t even think about what May would do- _

“_ Peter _.”

Peter looked up in the direction of the voice and grinned when he saw Ned holding up a window for him. He climbed through the window and shot him a grateful smile.

“Thanks, dude.”

Ned just returned it with a half-hearted glare, “you’re just lucky that Mr. Palmer is late to class today, but you can’t keep doing this Peter! You cut it real close today!”

Peter sighed and looked around the classroom he climbed into filled with tired students. Either no one noticed his strange arrival into the room or they chose to ignore it. He was betting on the latter as it was kind of normal for students to sneak in the classroom past the bell in the most bizarre ways. 

“I know Ned but,” he leaned closer and lowered his voice, “I had another Spider-man issue to deal with.”

“Really?” Ned exclaimed.

“Shh Ned,” Peter looked around for any suspicious glances but found absolutely no reaction from the students, “yea. It was the Trapster this time.”

Ned raised his eyebrows, “Woah again? I thought he was gonna be like a one-time thing.”

“Yea, I thought that too the past three times.”

Ned just snorted and was about to ask him something else but cut himself off when the teacher walked in. The whole class quickly settled in their seats. Peter groaned inwardly, he was still in a bad mood after J.J.J.’s verbal harassment and wasn’t looking forward to the rest of the day. 

“Sorry I’m late guys, I was on my way to school but got stopped by this guy who was running around the street, destroying the place with a giant glue gun,” at some of the worried glances Mr. Palmer quickly replied, “but don’t worry, Spider-man came and stopped him right on time and-”

Peter smiled as Mr. Palmer told the story of how Spider-man ‘saved the day’ and watched the faces of the students lighting up at the mention of said hero. He felt a little nudge and looked to see Ned smirking at him. He just rolled his eyes and rested his head on his hands, still smiling. Maybe today wouldn’t be so bad after all.

______________

When the bell finally rang, Peter gathered his books and quickly left his English classroom. It’s not that he hated English, it’s just that he very much disliked it. And besides, it’s lunchtime!

Peter began his walk to his locker so he can meet with Ned to go to the cafeteria. What caught his eye, however, was a brightly coloured poster that made him stop and turn to inspect it closer. You see, Peter Parker never really took the time to look at posters when he walked down the hall, mostly because none of them were really all that interesting. But this one really caught his interest because printed smack-dab in the middle of the piece of paper was a picture of him. Well, not him but his alter-ego.

_ Spider-man: The Musical! _

_ Casting now! _

“Peter! Hey, I was waiting for you at the locker, where’d you-”

Ned paused and turned to look at the sheet of paper his friend was glaring at. A few seconds passed before he burst into laughter while Peter just pouted at the boy next to him. 

“It’s not funny, Ned.”

“You’re right,” Ned chuckled, “it’s hilarious.”

Peter watched as Ned continued to laugh at his misery when he spotted MJ walking by them.

“Hey MJ,” the boy said while Ned waved at her amused.

“Hey losers,” she greeted back and then paused once she noticed the poster, “Oh you guys saw the Spider-man thing?”

Peter huffed slightly and Ned replied, nudging the boy, “Yea! It's really cool! I wonder who thought of bringing that up as an idea for a play?”

“It was me,” the girl replied passively. The boys paused before Ned let out a loud snort. MJ raised an eyebrow in question at Peter but the boy wasn't paying any attention, instead, he turned back to the poster, effectively finding his friend's name.

_ Written by: Michelle Jones _

“Yea, it’s an extra-credit thing,” MJ continued, “plus since Spider-man is practically our school’s mascot and everyone loves him, I bet that we’ll have a great audience.”

Peter had to agree with that. The school has been rooting for Spider-Man ever since the incident in DC, and a musical of Midtown’s favourite superhero would definitely be something people would come to watch. Even he was a little interested in watching it, especially since MJ wrote it. (He’s only saying that because he knows MJ is a good writer and not because he has a crush on her or anything). ;)

Peter turned to MJ and asked, “So who's signed up so far?”

“A lot of people surprisingly,” the girl answered, “We got a lot of students signing up for the role of Spider-man. Flash was the first to sign up.”

Ned, who was in a laughing fit in the background, started laughing harder at that, his face turning bright red. MJ looked at him slightly annoyed while Peter tried to process the information. 

Flash was going for the role of Spider-man.

_ Flash Thompson! _

Peter briefly wondered if the whole world was against him before simply realizing that he had Parker luck™ and this is just normal. But Flash Thompson? The guy looks at Peter like he’s a piece of gum that got stuck under his shoe like he’s just a huge inconvenience in his life. And now he’s auditioning for the role of Spider-man? 

“So Peter,” the boy snapped his attention to MJ at the sound of his name, “are you gonna audition?”

“Wh-what? Audition as Spider-man?” Peter stuttered, “but I’m nothing like him! Like nowhere close, like he’s way taller than me. Also, did you notice that he has a New York accent and I definitely do not, so we are nothing alike! I don’t know why you would think that I-”

“I was thinking you should just audition for the role of a bystander,” MJ said, effectively stopping Peter’s rant, “I don’t think you should go for Spider-man.”

The boy furrowed his eyebrows at that, a little offended. “Why not?”

MJ just rolled her eyes, “because Flash has his eyes dead set on that role and I don’t think you should- wait- you know what? Go for Spider-man.”

MJ smirked as Peter spluttered, “wha- I thought you said I shouldn’t go for it just two seconds ago! What happened?”

“I think it would be funny,” MJ replied, taking out her pen and signing Peter’s name on the long list of applicants for Spider-man. “I’m rooting for you.”

With that MJ walked away, leaving Peter standing there with Ned who was still trying to recover from his laughing fit which progressively got worse during their conversation. 

“No no no, Ned this is not good!” Peter whined once she was gone, “when I get the role of Spider-man-”

“-if.”

“-people are gonna find out who I actually am.” Peter continued, ignoring Ned’s input. “Okay, fine. I am not going to audition. I’m going to MJ and tell her straight up that I refuse to audition for the role of Spider-man and I’m not gonna back down no matter how scary she is or how she could probably rip me apart without glancing away from her book or-”

“The audition’s tomorrow at 5.”

“Thanks.”

___________________

“Hey Mr. Stark,” Peter gave a little wave to the man, making his way into the kitchen to grab a bowl of Frosted Flakes.

“Hey, kid. How was school?” Tony asked from where he was seated at the couch, sipping his 34th coffee that day. 

“Boring, as per usual,” Peter replied while rummaging through the cupboards, “Hey, where are all the bowls?”

“Friday notified me two hours ago that Clint stuffed them all in a bag and left the building with it.”

Peter paused at that and turned to the man, “and you’re not concerned?”

Tony shrugged, “I learnt a while back not to question his actions. It’s honestly a waste of time, so just use a mug and come join me already.”

Peter rolled his eyes and went to get his food. Once he sat down with his mug of cereal, he turned and faced his mentor. 

“How was your day?”

“Eh, boring as well,” the man replied, “paperwork, waiting to work on the suit until you got here and I almost snapped because of it. Do you really need to go to school for seven whole hours?”

The boy snorted, “Mr. Stark, are you encouraging me to skip school?”

“No,” Tony rolled his eyes and reached out to ruffle Peter’s hair. “Don’t put words in my mouth.”

Peter just shrugged and continued to eat his cereal, “it was worth a try.”

Tony shook his head, “well, getting back to school, you sure there’s nothing interesting you want to tell me?”

Peter shook his head, “no,” and continued to munch on his cereal.

“Really? Are you sure there is _absolutely_ _nothing_ you need to tell me about?”

Peter paused at that. Mr. Stark was using his ‘you’re in trouble, young man’ voice and he had no idea what he even di- Wait. The boy turned and faced his mentor’s stern face. _ He knows._ _He knows about the play! _

“Oh my god, Mr. Stark, I swear I didn’t want to audition for the role of Spider-man because I know it’s risky but MJ signed me up and she wrote the play and our whole school is in a Spider-man craze so she said it’ll be a great turnout and-”

“Woah kid, slow down,” the man said, taking the mug out of Peter’s shaking hands so it won’t spill, “take a breath, kiddo.”

Tony made sure the kid was okay before leaning back on the couch with a smug smile, “see I was talking about the little fight Spider-man was in before school started which broke a little rule we had. And I was gonna briefly lecture you on it but that can wait. What is this about a play?”

Oh. Oh no. He was talking about the Trapster. _ Of course, he was talking about the Trapster, how the heck would he even know about the play? _Peter silently cursed his Parker luck™ and just wished that the ground would just swallow him whole. 

“Oh wait, is this the play that your school tweeted out?” Tony asked, reaching for his phone. 

“You follow our school’s twitter?” Peter asked before pausing and muttering to himself, “our school has twitter?”

“Well _ I _don’t but my alias, Robert Parker, your other emergency contact, does,” Tony said, scrolling through his phone, “and yes your school does have a twitter account. Where do you think we got those school pictures of yours to hang up around here?”

“I thought you got them from May,” Peter squawked, “and why would you pick the most embarrassing ones to put up?”

“Oh, I didn’t put them up. Sam and Bucky did,” Tony said, rolling his eyes when Peter smashed his face into one of the couch pillows and let out a muffled groan.

“Oh, here it is!” Tony grinned, “Midtown is hosting a play of the most beloved hero in all of Queens, Spider-man! Come see Spider-man: The Musical, written by our very own student, Michelle Jones- wait isn’t that your friend?” 

Peter muttered out a ‘yes’, his face still buried in the pillows. 

“Cheer up, Spider-baby,” Tony said while patting the boy’s back in sympathy, “this isn’t the worst thing you’ve faced.”

Peter opened his mouth to retort but was interrupted by Steve walking into the room, followed by the rest of the goddamn avengers.

“What’s not the worst thing Peter’s faced?” Steve asked, taking a seat on the armchair next to them while the rest of the group situated themselves around the two of them. _Great._

“Uh.. nothing!” Peter replied, hoping that it would work and no one would further question it, but of course, his Parker luck™ couldn’t let him get away with it. 

“Okay…” Steve said while raising an eyebrow at Tony, who rolled his eyes at Peter and proceeded to tell them about the play like the traitor he was. 

“Spider-boy’s in a play?” Sam grinned, turning to look at Bucky who had the same expression and Peter knew at that moment that there was no way he was going to get his dignity back. Natasha must have taken pity on Peter by the miserable look on his face as she elbowed both of them in the ribs.

“I think it’s great Peter,” Natasha said, smiling gently at him, “it’s something new and who knows, maybe you’ll gain a new interest.”

“Although,” Steve cleared his throat, “it is kind of risky for Spider-Man to audition for the role of Spider-Man, don’t you think?” 

Everyone turned to look at the man, pondering on that.

“There’s a high chance someone would make the connection when they see Peter in the suit,” Steve continued, “especially since some kids have seen Spider-Man up close during the whole trip to DC.”

“Captain’s right!” Peter exclaimed, standing up so quickly that Tony flinched, “it would be stupid for me to do so as there is a chance that my identity could be revealed and you know that would result in a lot of paperwork if it does happen. So we should all listen to the great Captain America, all hail our lord and saviour-”

“If that’s the case, shouldn’t those kids have recognized Peter’s voice when he was in the suit?” Clint questioned, “since he spends almost three days a week with the team, don’t you think they should’ve picked it up?”

Natasha rolled her eyes, “the kids aren’t trained spies like us, Clint. Weren’t they in danger while you were there, Peter?”

“Uh, yeah?”

“Then, the adrenaline must have gotten to them,” the woman continued, “besides, everyone was so focused on surviving that making the connection between Peter and Spider-Man should have been the farthest thing on their minds.”

Steve nodded and turned to Peter, “have you met with anyone in school in person before or after that incident as Spider-Man?”

Peter thought for a moment, trying to recall if he ever did so during his patrols, and shook his head.

“We should install a voice modifier in your suit, kid,” Tony spoke up, “honestly, I can’t believe I didn’t put it in when I first gave it to you, considering your secret identity.”

“Alright then,” Steve smiled, “as long as Peter’s not wearing his suit and uses the voice modifier on patrol from now onwards, I don’t see a problem with him auditioning.”

Wait, What? Peter was so concentrated on making sure that his identity was still safe that he completely forgot it was the only thing saving him from this audition. 

“No!” Peter cried, collapsing back onto the couch, causing Tony to flinch again, “you were my last hope, Mr. Rogers.”

“You’ll be fine, kid,” Tony said, putting an arm around the kid, “besides, like Nat said, you might actually enjoy it.”

“Okay,” the boy huffed, “but if people find out, remember this moment and remember that all of you allowed this.”

Everyone nodded in agreement with amused looks.

“I doubt anyone would figure it out though,” Sam spoke up, “I mean people are pretty oblivious to things nowadays.”

Bucky hummed, “besides you look nothing like Spider-man.”

Peter scoffed at that, “wh-what do you mean? I am Spider-man!”

“No,” Bucky shook his head, “see that doesn’t sound right. Try it with a new-york accent.”

Peter sighed but did so nonetheless. “I am Spider-man.”

“No, it’s still not right. Sam, you say it.”

“I am Spider-man.”

“Ah, there we go!” Bucky smiled, pointing at Sam.

“But-what- he’s not- I,” Peter let out a huge groan, ignoring everyone’s amused grins and smashed his face back into the pillows.

“Alright, knock it off you two,” Tony said, carding his fingers through Peter’s hair to bring some comfort. 

The two men backed off and the conversation immediately switched to the topic of choosing a movie to watch. In the end, they decided on just watching a few episodes of Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Steve got up to go make popcorn to snack on while Bucky and Sam went hunting for some blankets. 

“Uh, guys?” Steve called out while looking through the cabinets, “where are all the bowls?”

“I don’t know, Cap,” Clint smirked, resting his feet on Natasha’s lap only for them to be smacked away.

“He’s lying, he has them somewhere,” Tony sighed, “I swear if they’re in the vents, Clint-”

“-I’m not lying!” Clint exclaimed, “but the weather looks pretty _ muggy _ today, huh?”

…

“Oh shit.”

“How do you even mess that up?” 

“Good Lord, that’s a lot of bowls.”

“Are they all out in the fiel- Oh my god they are. Well, maybe if you go now, you can get them all before it starts rain- and it’s raining.”

…

“Damn it, Clint!”


	2. You Just Got Bit!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Contestants came and went, each one somehow getting progressively worse than the last. The three judges below seemed to be getting frustrated, Ned was snoring lightly next to him and Peter was just about ready to yeet himself out the building when Flash walked out onto the stage. Oh god, he almost forgot about him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for taking so long to update. Exams and school work kinda took over. Well anyway, here's another chapter!

The next day, Peter found himself sitting on one of the chairs in the auditorium beside Ned. He had just finished his audition and decided to wait to watch the others who were going for his role until Happy came to pick him up. Ned came along to support him which Peter greatly appreciates as it was his first time acting, and that being said, he thinks he’s nailed it. Which is obvious because he _ is _Spider-man. 

He focused his attention back onto one of the candidates who finally finished stuttering through his lines. 

“Alright, thanks Charles,” Mr. Harrington, one of the three judges, said with a tight smile. The student nodded stiffly and rushed off the stage. Peter sighed in sympathy for the boy as he knew how nerve-racking it could be. 

Meanwhile, the judges, who consisted of Mr. Harrington, MJ and Betty, continued to converse between themselves when Peter’s phone started ringing all of a sudden. He gave the judges a sheepish smile when they turned to glare at him and quickly exited the auditorium. Once he was in the hallway, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and saw that it was May calling him. He clicked ‘accept’ and brought it to his ear. 

“Hey May! How’s Brazil?”

“It’s great here, Pete,” May said, and he could imagine the warm smile on her face, “how are you, honey?”

“I’m good!”

He smiled and continued to chat with her on the phone. It’s been almost two weeks since May left for Brazil for an internship of sorts that could lead to a better job. He’s been staying with Mr. Stark ever since. He remembered how surprised he had been at how easily the man had agreed to care for him for the next couple of months. He has to admit that it has been fun so far, especially with avengers residing in the same building as him. It all feels so surreal. He does miss May though, and he makes sure to let her know.

“I know, baby,” she replies, “but it’s only a couple more months until I come back for a visit, and I’m sure Tony wouldn’t mind sending you over here during summer vacation a few times either.”

“I can’t wait, May,” Peter grinned.

May hummed a ‘me too’ before asking, “So what's this I hear about you joining a play?”

Peter groaned, “I can’t believe Mr. Stark told you.”

May laughed wholeheartedly, “well, of course, he told me! That’s the secret to Co-parenting. Good communication.”

Peter shook his head, still smiling, “but he still could’ve left out the play thing.”

“Aw come on, Peter. It can’t be that bad,” May snorted when Peter insisted that it really is, “Tony didn’t tell me what the play was about though. So, what is it?”

Peter sighed and mumbled, “Spider-Man.”

There was a pause of silence before May let out a huge snort to which Peter whined back, “May!”

“Alright, alright,” the woman managed to calm herself down a bit but was still giggling, “when’s your audition? And please tell me you’re auditioning for Spider-Man.”

Peter huffed out a ‘yes’ and said, “I just did my audition, actually.”

“Oh really? How was it?”

“I think it went really well, May,” and Peter meant it. He felt really good about this one.

“I’m so proud of you, Peter!” May exclaimed and the boy couldn’t help the large grin that split across his face.

“Thanks, May,” he replied, sheepishly.

“Oh, I’m sorry honey, but I have to go,” the woman said, apologetically, “but I’ll call you tomorrow and you better give me all the details!”

“I will,” Peter laughed, “I larb you!”

“Larb you too!”

The boy hung up and pocketed the phone, heading back into the auditorium. He quietly made his way back to his seat next to Ned, careful of not disrupting the ongoing audition. Peter smiled at his friend to let him know that everything is okay when the boy turned to him in question. Ned then pulled a bag of chips from his bag and opened it, angling it so Peter can grab a few.

As the rest of the day flew by slowly, both Ned and Peter watched lazily, sharing a bag of chips between them, as people auditioned. It was ridiculous how many people wanted this role. Even Custodian Stan Lee tried for the role, and he was so good that Peter himself was starting to question who Spider-man actually was. Unfortunately, Stan wouldn’t be able to get the part as he wasn’t a student, but Peter was absolutely positive that everyone in the room was reluctant to let him go. 

From then on, contestants came and went, each one somehow getting progressively worse than the last. The three judges below seemed to be getting frustrated, Ned was snoring lightly next to him and Peter was just about ready to yeet himself out the building when Flash walked out onto the stage. _ Oh god, he almost forgot about him _. He quickly shook his friend awake. 

“Alright Flash, it seems like you’re our last audition for the night,” Betty announced and let him know he could begin whenever he was ready. 

The boy took a deep breath and cleared his throat before doing a somersault. He landed on his knees and raised his hand, fingers poised as if he was going to shoot a web.

“I’m Spider-Man, evil-doer. And you just got bit!”

The room went silent before loud cheers erupted from the judges. Peter spluttered as all of them, except MJ, stood up, clapping. 

“Wow Flash! You have great charisma!” Mr. Harrington (Peter's, now least favourite teacher) said, “I think we have our Spider-Man!”

Peter turned to the boy next to him to complain when he realized Ned was on his feet, clapping as well. A look of betrayal made its way on his face.

“Ned!”

His friend blushed, sitting down and Peter almost forgave him, until Ned opened his mouth to sheepishly say, “he was kinda good.”

Peter scoffed, “Good? It was mediocre at best.”

Ned gave him a knowing smirk, “really?”

“Yea!” Peter crossed his arms and pouted, “plus he didn’t even say any of the lines we all were supposed to practice. Also, Spider-man doesn’t say ‘get bit.’ It’s not even catchy! I bet you the judges would say the same.”

“I love the whole ‘get bit’ thing,” Betty praised and Peter gaped while Ned started laughing beside him. 

“Alright. Congratulations, I guess,” MJ sighed, a clear lack of enthusiasm in her voice, “thanks for coming.”

Flash pumped his fist in the air and took his leave. While the judges started getting ready to leave as well, he caught MJ looking at him briefly with an unreadable expression on her face before she turned away. He sighed, deciding to not worry about it, and gathered his things to follow Ned out of the auditorium. Ned bumped his shoulder as they both exited the school to the parking lot.

“Cheer up, man,” Ned said, “it’s just a play.”

Peter shrugged, “yeah, well. I was kinda hoping I’d get the part.”

Their conversation was interrupted by a ‘ding’ coming from his phone and Peter looked down to see it was a message from MJ. He opened it and sighed when he read it. 

“Dude, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Peter huffed, “just got a text saying that I’m the fifth choice to play the role of myself.”

“Peter-”

“How could they pick him that fast? And why am I the _ fifth _choice to play Spider-Man? I mean he’s-”

Ned quickly covered his friend’s mouth before Peter just yelled out his secret identity. The boy waited a few seconds for the other to calm down before dropping his hand. “Look at this as a good thing, Peter. Now your identity is definitely safe. I mean, as long as I’m there to cut you off before you spill it.”

“But-”

“Look Peter, so what if Flash got the role of Spider-Man?” Ned lowered his voice, “It doesn’t change the fact that you’re the actual hero out there helping people every day. People appreciate you! I mean our school’s making a whole play for you, dude!”

Peter smiled, nodding at his friend before noticing Happy’s car pull up in the lot. They both greeted the man before getting in the car. The conversation quickly turned to the new Star Wars lego set Ned bought and Peter forgot all about the play as he chatted with his friend. 

__________

Peter snapped awake to the sound of his name. He blinked a couple of times to get a grasp of his surroundings and realized that they’ve reached the tower. He looked to his right, expecting to see Ned before remembering that he’d already been dropped off at his house. 

“Finally you’re awake,” Happy groaned, “I thought I’d be here all night trying to wake you up and I definitely-”

“-_ do not get paid enough for this _, I know Happy,” Peter replied, rubbing the last remains of sleep out of his eyes before grabbing his bag and stepping out of the car, “But you love me too much to care.”

The boy shut the door, smiling to himself as he heard the man spluttering in protest. He stepped inside the building, giving a quick wave to the receptionist before heading inside the elevator.

“Hey, Friday!”

“Hello Peter,” the A.I. responded softly, “how was your day?”

“It was okay,” Peter shrugged, “how was yours?”

“It was pretty good. Thank you for asking,” she replied, “would you like me to take you to Mr. Stark? He is in the lab right now.”

The boy gave a little nod, “yes please!” 

He bounced on his toes, excited to get out of the elevator and see his mentor. Plus, since he didn’t get a chance to work on the suit with Tony last night due to the impromptu movie night, he was looking forward to catching up. When the elevator finally opened, he was met with blaring music that quickly turned down to a lower volume that his ears could tolerate. From the sudden drop in volume, Tony looked up from the crazy number of holograms he was focused on and gave the boy a smile. 

“Hey, Pete.” Tony waved for the music to stop and opened his arms as an invitation for a hug. Peter gladly walked over to his mentor and wrapped his arms around the man, inhaling the scents of coffee and motor oil that he now associates with home. Mr. Stark is more open to physical contact now and Peter has been taking advantage of it. From pats on the back to down-right cuddling, the boy takes every chance he gets. Besides, it seems to be benefitting Mr. Stark as well since he seems happier now. Peter lets out a long sigh. He’s definitely happier too.

“So kid, how’d it go?”

“How’d what go?” The boy asked, still stuck in his dreamy state of wanting to stay in his mentor’s arms forever.

The man snorts and brings a hand to ruffle the kid’s hair. “The audition. For… Who was it again? Ant-man?”

_ ..and _mood ruined.

Tony continued listing off other superheroes, oblivious to the change in Peter’s demeanour. “...or was it Black Widow? War Machine?”

“Mr. Stark-”

The man gasped and pointed to himself. “Me?”

Peter chuckled and rolled his eyes but couldn’t keep the smile on his face for too long. Noticing that his kid wasn’t too happy, Tony immediately initiated the “Time to Comfort the Spider-Baby” protocol.

“Alright kiddie,” the man said, throwing an arm around Peter’s shoulders and heading back towards the elevator. “It seems that it’s ice cream time.” Tony reminded Friday to lock the lab and stepped inside the elevator.

“Mr. Stark, I’m fine. It’s not even that bad,” the boy half-heartedly protested but stepped inside with the man anyway. 

“It’s definitely something if it’s bothering you, Pete,” Tony paused to let the A.I. know where they want to go before turning back to Peter, “besides, are you really turning down ice cream?”

The boy brought a hand to his chest in mock offence and gasped. “I would never!”

Tony rolled his eyes at the dramatic child before stepping out of the elevator. Peter followed suit and sat down on the couch as his mentor headed towards the kitchen, leaving Peter alone with his thoughts. 

_ I can’t believe I’m pouting over a stupid play. Avengers don’t pout...right? Does Mr. Stark pout? _

The boy’s thoughts were interrupted as Tony walked over to him, a bowl of ice-cream in each hand. His mentor sighed once he took in Peter’s slumped posture and handed him a bowl. Peter stared at Tony, waiting for the man to say something as he took a seat beside him. He only received a weird look from him before he pointed at Peter’s bowl with his spoon, mumbling out an “eat.” The boy shrugged and took a huge spoonful of the desert and shoved it in his mouth. Peter let out a pleased sound and continued to shove the rest of the ice-cream in his mouth as his mentor watched him amused and slightly concerned. 

Once Peter finished, he set the empty bowl in the coffee table and turned to face Tony, who was still on his first spoonful of ice-cream (loser). The man quirked an eyebrow at him as the boy continued to stare at him. They both eyed each other for a few more seconds before Tony rolled his eyes and gave the kid his bowl, snorting at the grin on Peter’s face.

Peter happily munched on his new-found treat, having a great time. But of course, it had to end soon.

“So, Pete,” Tony said, turning on the television but keeping it at a low volume, “I’m guessing the audition didn’t go the way you planned?”

Peter sighed, setting down his bowl of ice-cream. “Actually, it did go well. I think I did pretty great, Mr. Stark.”  
His mentor turned away from the screen to face the boy with a big grin. “Good on you, kiddo!” Peter leaned into the side hug Tony pulled him in and smiled. He was glad Tony was proud of him even for the achievements that weren’t related to science. 

“Wait, if it went well, what’s wrong?” Peter pulled away to face his mentor. _ Here goes _.

“Well, they announced who made the cast today-”

“Woah, already?” The man asked and Peter nodded in return. His forgotten anger slowly building up at the thought of how quickly Flash got picked for Spider-man. 

“I didn’t get the role of Spider-Man,” Peter huffed, glaring at the empty bowl on his lap.

When Peter didn’t hear any response from the man for a while, he raised his head to see Tony staring at him with an incredulous expression. Peter frowned, waving his hand in front of his mentor’s face, hoping to get a reaction but failed to get one.

“Uh... Mr. Stark?” The boy raised a finger to poke at Tony’s nose when the man suddenly grabbed Peter’s wrist, making him flinch. 

“You didn’t get the role of Spider-Man? Spider-Man didn’t get the role of Spider-Man?” Tony let out a huge snort that dwelled into laughter as the boy watched him with a deadpan expression. Peter huffed when the man continued to laugh.

“Mr. Stark, it’s not funny.” Peter waited for the man to compose himself with a pout on his face. 

“Aw come on, kiddo,” Tony smiled, nudging Peter’s shoulder, “it’s a little funny.”

“I really don’t think so,” Peter said, crossing his arms, “and stop laughing at me. First Ned and now you.”

“Kid, we’re not laughing _ at _you, we’re laughing at the situation.” His mentor wrapped an arm around his shoulders, making the boy lean into the man once again. “You’ve finally found your archnemesis, kid, and it’s a school play.”

Peter’s lips quirked at that. “Okay, it’s a little funny.”

“Atta boy.” Tony gave the boy’s shoulders a little shake before giving him a pat on the back. “Now, how about we watch a bit of Brooklyn Nine-Nine for the rest of the evening instead of...whatever this is.”

Peter turned to look at the screen to see an infomercial for a $300 apple slicer. A man was aggressively smashing the button of a machine that was absolutely destroying the apple inside. The large grin on the man’s face showed that he was enjoying this a little too much. Peter turned to Tony who also looked a bit disturbed from the scene. As if sensing the two males' discomfort, Friday started to play an episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine on the TV.

A few minutes into the episode, Tony turned to the boy next to him. “Wait, if you didn’t get the role of Spider-Man, who did?”

Peter sighed. Were the gods above just really keen on making today the worst day possible for the boy? 

“Um well,” Peter scratched his head, “Flash did.”

The man raised an eyebrow, “Flash? That’s a name? Please tell me that’s not actually his name.”

“No, it’s actually a nickname. His real name’s Eugene. “

Tony scrunched up his face in disgust, “Yeah, no, let’s stick with Dash-”

“Flash.”

“-who’s he anyway?”

“He’s just another kid on the decathlon team,” Peter said, picking at a loose thread on his jeans. 

Tony hummed, sensing more to the story but pushing it aside for now. “Then did you get a role then?”

“I’m the understudy,” Peter huffed. 

“So you did get Spider-Man!” The man said, “just not the first choice, but second choice isn’t bad either, kid.” 

Peter mumbled something under his breath that Tony couldn’t hear, prompting the man to ask Peter to repeat once again. 

“Fifth choice, Mr. Stark. I’m the fifth choice to play the role of me.”

That resulted in another round of the man laughing at Peter- _ not laughing at you, laughing at the situation _\- honestly, Peter didn’t know what he was expecting. The boy opened his mouth to say something before getting interrupted by a blaring tune coming from his phone. He pulled it out to see it was Ned calling him. Peter sighed, getting up to go to his room, leaving the man still laughing on the couch by himself. 

“Hey, what’s up?” Peter answered jumping onto his bed. 

“Hey Peter, guess who MJ assigned to be in charge of the costumes?”

“Who?” Peter asked, heavy sarcasm leaking into his voice. Ned, unfortunately, didn’t pick up on it. 

“...me, dumbass.” Peter let out a snort, pausing to put Ned on speaker and then reached over to grab his laptop from the desk beside him. Might as well get started on homework now as he’s in his study space.

“Oh sorry for not catching that right away. I mean, I’m no Sherlock.” The boy rolled his eyes when he heard Ned mumble ‘mhm Watson.’ “How’d you get stuck with that job anyway?”

“I don’t know dude! Here I was at home, enjoying time with my family-”

Peter coughed out a ‘liar.’

“-fine, I was in my room.”

The boy hummed, waiting for his friend to continue as he pulled up the PowerPoint for his group project in English.

“I was having a grand old time playing Minecraft,” Ned continued, “and then out of nowhere I get a text from MJ saying ‘you’re in charge of costumes now, Leeds,’ and that’s it! Not a ‘hey do you want to be the costume guy, pretty please?’ I don’t even get a choice.”

Peter let out a laugh at that. “Well, why don’t you just tell her that you don’t want to do costumes?”

“Oh, like how you went up to MJ all brave and told her you don’t want to audition for the role of Spider-Man?” Ned retorted.

“Touché.”

“Well, anyway I gave you all that backstory in hopes that I could get you to sympathize with me and my dire situation as a costume designer and maybe _ possibly _-”

“Just spit out, Ned.”

“-bring your suit over at school tomorrow so I can get some inspiration to design fake Spidey’s suit?”

Peter paused, his fingers going still on the keyboard. “Ned, you know I can’t do that.”

“Yes you can- look it’ll just be me working on it okay, no one else.”

The boy shook his head. “Well, even if you are the only one working on it, if you copy Spider-Man’s suit, someone’s going to recognize it, dude.”

“They won’t if I alter the designs so they don’t completely match?”

Peter let out a sigh. If the suits didn’t match and if no one else but Ned was going to work on it, then he really sees no problem with letting his friend borrow his suit. But, it’s just Peter’s still a little upset over not getting the role and he knows he’s being stubborn but-

“Please, Peter? Come on, have mercy for the poor soul who’s stuck arranging costumes for a play he just wanted to watch and not actually participate in but _ nooo _-”

“Okay, Ned!” The boy laughed, “I’ll bring the suit by tomorrow.”

“Really? Yes!”

“Yeah yeah,” Peter said, continuing to work on his project, “just remember to be careful with it, okay?”

“You got it, Peter!”

The boys continued to chat after that, the majority of the conversation reciting memes to each other when Friday interrupted to let Peter know it was dinner time. “Gotta go, Ned. See you tomorrow!”

“Bye! Remember to bring the suit!”

The boy hung up and made his way into the living room, beginning to regret his choice of agreeing to bring the suit. His thoughts came to a halt when he entered the room and saw the avengers sitting on the couch, minus Clint who was standing in front of them, with absolutely no food in sight. 

“Umm, where is dinner?”

They just turned to look at him. “Wait, can we not afford food anymore? Why? Oh my god, Mr. Stark did you get fired? Are we going to be homeless-”

“-uh, I can’t get fired, kid. I’m the boss.”

“Wait, I thought Pepper was the boss,” someone said, but Peter was too busy saying goodbye to every single inanimate object as well as Friday.

“Goodbye coffee table. Goodbye, Ms. Friday, I’ll miss you so m-”

“Enough!” Everyone froze and turned to Clint who stood there with his arms crossed in front of him. “No one’s fired and no one’s moving!”

The man smiled when everyone continued to stare at him silently. “Now I brought you all here so that I can show you this really cool thing I bought!”

Bucky raised his hand and Clint nodded for him to speak. “Wait, so there really is no dinner?”

“There will be if you guys let me show you what I have.”

Tony stood up. “Uh, no way. Every time you show us something, it always ends badly, so I’m just gonna-”

“Sit down, Tony,” Clint said, glaring at the man. The two eyed each other for several seconds before Tony sat back down. Why was he losing all the staring competitions today?

“Alright, now that I have finally gotten all of your attention, I can show you what I bought!” The man grinned, reaching behind him to pull out a small machine. 

“Hold on, isn’t that the machine we saw on TV, Mr. Stark?” Peter asked, turning to his mentor. 

The man nodded, “yea, it’s the one with the crazy man with all those apples-”

“It’s the Apple Slicer 3000!” Clint exclaimed proudly. “It even has a setting to make it into juice! Now, we can have fresh apple juice whenever we want.”

…

…

“I like orange juice.”

“Well too late! I already spent 300 dollars-” “'300 DOLLARS?” “-And besides, it can do a bunch of other stuff.”

“Like what?” Sam asked. 

“It can slice an apple in three seconds.” When Clint was met with a bunch of unimpressed faces, he pulled out an apple from behind him.

“Where on earth are you storing those things?”

“Just watch.” Clint then pulled the lid off of the device and dropped the apple in there. He then went to press the button, excited to finally see it in action.

“Wait, Clint, you didn’t put the lid back-”

As soon as the button was clicked, apple chunks went flying everywhere at an incredibly fast velocity and everyone ducked for cover. 

“Friday cut the power to that thing!”

The machine came to a stop and everyone came out of their hiding spots slowly, eyeing the machine as if it would come back to life. Practically the whole room was covered in bits of apple including themselves. Peter somehow ended up on the ceiling and he continued to cling to it, traumatized. 

The avengers turned to Clint, murder in their eyes, and the man backed up in fear.

“Wait, guys, I didn’t mean-”

He was interrupted as Natasha walked into the room with a cup of tea in her hand. She took one look at everyone and turned back towards her bedroom, heading to her suitcase. She needs a long vacation like yesterday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't know how to end this so I let my fingers take the lead and I kinda wish I didn't because boy, is this a mess! Thanks for the Kudos and Comments! They really keep me going :)

**Author's Note:**

> Ahhh, thank you for reading! Make sure to leave kudos and comments! They're like crack to me!


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